Midnight Chronicles
by LC roberts
Summary: *Sequel to Before time* Edward and Valerie must face dangerous situations and make the hardest decisions of their lives thus far. Is Edward somehow connected to the Umbrella Conspiracy? Will Val prevail in taking down Umbrella in the end? Please Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

"Val," Edward pulled away from me after a series of kisses. I hadn't seen him in months and this was the news he brought me… "They're dead."

"Who's dead?"

"Your parents, the infection spread and…" He ran a hand through his messy hair and focused his eyes on me.

"I get it."

I looked out of the window of the SUV that Leon was driving. We were in a neighborhood and the houses were dark and cold looking. My entire family was gone. I never got to that 'lets be friends' stage with my parents. I thought that for sure it would eventually come despite the past. But it would never happen and now I was the last Pagan left. I wondered why it didn't hurt me more. I felt Edwards arm slip around my shoulders and pull me into him. I wasn't going to give in and lose it this time.

"And your parents?"

"They're gone," He told me. "But they left a note, I have to find them."

I nodded, feeling uncharacteristically uninterested in the quest. I had a overwhelming feeling that I was being watched, but I waved it aside and excused the paranoia. Jill looked back from the front passenger seat and started talking to Edward and I could barely hear them. It wasn't until she addressed me that I had to interact, so I just nodded. When they were done I turned to Edward.

"This thing… its beginning to get a little bit bigger then us." I told him. "Try and understand where I'm coming from. We have different ideas in mind."

"What do you mean?" Edward said calmly, I could tell that he was trying to keep his cool.

"You know what I mean… You have to find your parents. My intentions are much different now."

"So?"

"So…" I looked into his warm hazel brown eyes and a hint of excitement rushed through me. His full lips were slightly parted and I noticed that his hair had gotten a tiny bit longer, stray strands of bangs kept coving his eyes and he would brush them away. He was soooo sexy, more now then ever. "So you need a haircut."

"Valerie…" He shook his head. "I know, I'll get one."

He turned away and stared out of the window shield, falling silent. I was grateful that he didn't argue or push the subject, but a little worried. It was like him to milk an argument for what its worth, at least when it came to me. I sighed and let it go, looking back out of the window and then I remembered.

"Whatever happened to Alexia?"

"She's safe." Was all that Jill said.

I left it at that and waited. I had no idea where we were and I didn't have the energy to ask. From what I could see we were in the country side now, long fields, dark outlines of cattle, open skies where you could see the stars clearly. I looked at them and thought of Phil, tears came to my eyes and I was glad for the darkness. I wanted to sit there and cry for him silently, seeing as he had been dead for three months and I had barely done so in the first place.

Claire was behind us quietly humming tunelessly and I listened. I couldn't tell what the song was but it was beautiful. So I sat there and had my own little personal funeral for my brother. I looked toward the brightest star in the sky and named that star after him…

The SUV was slowing and I dried my eyes and looked out of the windshield to see where we were pulling up. It was a small shack of a house and that was it. There was absolutely nothing else around it. There was no sign of life in the slightest. When Leon stopped, I unbuckled and let myself out. There were miles of empty field around us and I found myself feeling smaller then ever.

"This is our… Headquarters." Edward said, wrapping an arm around my waist and leading me to the shack. "We eat, sleep, and hide out here unless we have a reason to come out-"

"How do all of you fit, its so tiny."

Edward smiled his crooked smile at me and then nodded. "You'll see."

We followed the others inside and I looked around confused. It was a single room house places to sit here and there and a table in the dead center of the room. I couldn't see any beds or living necessities. Then Jill was walking forward and Edward was pulling me back to the wall.

"I don't-"

"Just watch." He told me, and in this light I could see that he had a five o clock shadow, looking more grunge then the normal Edward.

I watched Jill kneel down and look underneath the wooden table her hand disappearing when she found what she was looking for. There was eight beeps like buttons were being pushed and then she jumped up and stepped back with the rest of us. I looked back at the table just in time to see it split apart and go opposite ways. Then flip and fold down into the floor out of sight. Then, the floor itself was splitting apart like the table did. A platform lifted from the floor and then there was a loud _bang _when everything was in place.

I looked at Edward and smiled, the corners of my mouth sore because I hadn't truly done so in a while. "That was fucking awesome."

He laughed and leaned down for a kiss, and I leaned up and gave him a peck before running and jumping onto the platform. The others followed and then Jill spoke the code clearly. "One-Nine-Six-Seven."

The floor of the platform shook and then we were going down. I looked over to Edward and asked, "What is that code based on?"

"The year that all of this began. When the three most successful umbrella scientists were successful in discovering the progenitor virus in a single flower." He told me, his jaw tight.

"Who were the scientists?"

"Spencer, Ashford, and Marcus." He shrugged. "As far as I know."

I wanted to ask him what he meant about that but the lift was halting and I looked at the doors that were due to open any second. When they did I only saw a long and empty metallic hall. I followed the others through it and on the other side Leon put his hand to a screen by the door. It beeped and clicked open, and then we were in.

"Your DNA has been added to the program so it will let you in too." Claire told me sweetly. "All you have to remember is the password to get down here, its voice recognization. Your covered there as well."

I smiled at her and then looked around. There were rows and rows of computers and electronics in the center of the room. Edward told me that this is where they had been doing research to learn more about what we were up against. He explained that they had hacked into computers and changed databases in order to get the fake Ids to come and get me. Then he led me away from the room to the door on the upper left corner. It was a simple kitchen, one that wasn't too far away if they needed a bite while doing research. There was yet another door that he led me through and it was a library. The shelves were overflowing, and books were scattered everywhere.

"Then the doors leading from here," He explained, pointing to the two doors on either side of the room. "Go to our own little apartments. Jill's apartment and mine is the left, and Claire's apartment and Leon's is to the right. We're apartment B."

"A shower sounds really good right now." I told him.

"I'm sure it does, you look exhausted too."

"I am."

"Come on."

He took my hand and led me to the door on the left. There was a short hall and the room on the left was apartment A, on the right was B. Edward opened the door and led me inside. He clicked on the light and I looked around, my heart dropping. For one second I thought that we were back in the nightmare. There were papers scattered everywhere around the living room as well as dishes, some broken. Cloths were scattered on the staircase that led upstairs. I could see somewhere behind the living room there must have been a kitchen because I could see tiles.

"Edward… What-"

"I was in a dark place for a little while." He told me without shame. "Funny thing is that I barely stay here, I'm usually up front with the computers."

I noticed for the first time a hint of dark circles under his eyes. "When did all of this happen, I mean… when did you guys find this place?"

"A few months ago. I went back home with Jill incase I needed someone. The house was empty and the only thing left was a note." He reached in his back pocket and pulled out a piece of folded up and wrinkled paper, then handed it to me.

It read:

_Dear son, _

_If you find this then we apologize. We couldn't stick around for too long after you all left. If you don't already know there's an outbreak going on. Get far away from here. The three of you should find somewhere safe, we trust you. Tell Valerie, if you guys haven't already found out, that her parents have died. Stay away from that house too. Sorry that this is so hurried. There's so much more we want to say. If you don't find us then have no doubt that we will find you. We love you baby. _

It took me a while to read it because the print had faded, but after I finally finished I looked up at Edward and my heart dropped. There was so much pain on his face. I folded the paper back up and put it back in his pocket and then held his face in my hands. His whiskers scratched at my palms, and his eyes were filling with tears.

"What is it? What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking of a sensible reason why they didn't tell me where they were going." He said. "And also… I'm trying to figure out what my parents have been hiding from me."

"What do you mean, they never hide things from you."

"I doubt that," He cleared his throat. "but forget about that for now, lets go get you that shower."

He scooped me up in his arms effortlessly and carried me upstairs. When we go to the landing he set me down and opened the single door in the hall. Inside was a huge master bedroom, with what could have been a comfortable looking king size without all of the weapons scattered on it. Cloths were scattered on the floor here as well, and I could barely see the color of the carpet. A plasma television was mounted on the wall opposite the bed and there was a dresser chest underneath it with the shelves pulled halfway out.

Edward kicked a clear path for me on the way to the bathroom. "So this is how I roll."

"Edward, this place is a damn pigsty! I'll clean it for you tomorrow."

"No you wont." He said. "I'm going to clean it up while you take a shower okay?"

I nodded, and gave him a kiss on the cheek, then he opened the bathroom door and quickly told me where to find everything. When he shut me in I looked around. Everything was black marble. Black marble surfaces and beautiful white walls. This place was so clean that I felt detached from what was on the other side of the door. The tiles on the floor were sliver and matched the faucets. I walked over to one of the cabinets where he told me towels were and saw that the towels were all colorful and bright. Way out of place with the theme of the bathroom itself.

I took off the robe I had been wearing for what seemed like forever and let it drop to the floor. I was secretly glad that Edward had left me alone in here. I needed space to think things over. To think about my next move, and what Wesker had said to me.

"_Everything that you were is gone. Valerie Pagan is just a name and you'll soon come to find that even escaping this place will do no good. But there's the door, I'll let you learn that lesson on your own. Lets see how you truly work precious." _

A cold chill traveled down my body and I felt the back of my neck begin to tingle. I hadn't told anyone about Wesker being there yet. I couldn't decide if it would be wise of me to do or not. I wanted to go after him and everyone that was involved in this nightmare… alone. If I told them they would want to make a plan and tag along. I couldn't sidetrack Edward from finding his parents before it was too late. He needed to be with his family. Who was I to take that away from him when I new how it felt?

I turned on the hot water and jumped in, closing the sliding glass door behind me. It didn't take long for steam to fog up the room and blind me. The scolding water felt good as I attempted to scrub all of the nasty feelings away. My hair had grown a good five inches adding to the already extremely long locks I had to begin with. I used a healthy quarter of Edwards shampoo to clean it all. When my skin turned a hot pink color and I felt dizzy, I finally turned off the water and stood there for a few minutes.

If Edward and I stuck together, I would keep him from his parents. Not only that, he would be in far more danger then he was now. If I left he would hate me, he would try and find me. I wouldn't be there to protect him even though I knew that he could take care of himself. I needed much more time to think this out and plenty of more knowledge. I would do as much research as I could for as long as I could afford to take.

I would miss him. He would hate me. The likeliness of us ever seeing each other again was dangerously slim. But if I went down trying to bring what seemed like the most powerful entity in the world, I didn't want him to go down with me. He had a lot more to lose then I did. Now wasn't the time to be selfish.

I wrapped an orange towel around me and sighed. If it was absolutely necessary then I will tell them about Wesker. Only if it were my last option. They knew that he was dangerous to begin with and I was more then sure they had his number by now.

I wrapped another towel (red) around my hair and walked up to the mirror. The steam had fogged it up, and I wiped a section clear with my hand. My refection shocked me, I couldn't even recognize myself. I couldn't pinpoint it but somehow I looked different. Something was out of place. I ran my hand across my face and leaned into the mirror for a closer look. The back of my neck started to tingle again and I jerked away. My nerves were going haywire and I knew exactly what I needed. A long lost friend…

"Edward, you wouldn't happen to have any cigarettes would you?" I yelled. There was no answer. I went to the door and opened it, looking around his bedroom. "Edward?"

"Yeah?" His voice was far off telling me that he was downstairs.

"Come here."

I waited looking around at his now clean room. I could hear him banging up the stairs and then he came through the door and looked at me and smiled. "What's going on beautiful?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a precious pack of cigs would you?" I asked him.

He walked to the nightstand beside of his bed and pulled a drawer open, then pulled out a carton full. He grabbed a pack and then caught my eye. "So, I'm sort of addicted now."

"Edward! They're reds too!" I scowled.

"So, that's your favorite." He said grabbing the lighter.

"They kill you faster."

"You know," Edward said, taking a cigarette and lighting it and walking over to me. "We should really stop smoking."

"As long as you look like that when you smoke, you should never stop." I told him taking the cig he handed me and taking a drag. Bliss.

Edward closed the gap between us and wrapped his arms around my lower back, pulling me closer. I looked up at him, expecting a kiss but he just rested his forehead on mine and closed his eyes. "You have no idea how dead I was without you."

I felt instantly guilty for what my thoughts had been in the bathroom. But I couldn't let it break me. "I missed you too," I said honestly. "I don't remember much, and it feels like I saw you only yesterday… but regardless I missed you."

"It was the longest three months of my life." He traced my jaw line with his fingers. "I'll never let you go again."

"Edward…" I breathed. But he covered my lips with his and I couldn't finish.

The familiar hypnosis came over me as he deepened the kiss. His lips were gently playing along mine and he nibbled on my lower lip. His mouth was so warm, he was so warm. God I needed him… what had I been thinking? He ran his hands up my sides and then lightly across my back, coming to a rest on my hips. I was wrapped around him and completely consumed. I would die without the feel of his shoulder blade flexing under my hands, or the feel of his beautiful hair in my fingers. The feel of his hips pressed to mine. Oh, I was going crazy.

I could feel his hot breath surround me and my heart raced so fast that I thought it would explode. Then he pulled back and-

_CRASH!_

I jumped and slapped my hand over my mouth and Edwards eyes were round as he looked at me. We both looked around and I gasped. The television had fell off of the wall to the floor and a huge crack was in the direct middle of the screen. His dresser chest was cracked up the side and the drawers were broken and laying scattered in front of it. The mattress on his bed was halfway off the box spring and his pillows and comforter were on the floor. His nice and clean room was trashed again.

"How in the hell did this happen?" Edward said in awe. Then he looked at me. "Do you think..?"

"What?"

"I think you just did this."

"What do you mean? I was just standing here with you." I said defensively. "No way."

Edward smiled. "I think it was your powers."

"Powers? I'm a super human, but it doesn't mean that I have powers."

"Unless when you were in captivity for the last three months they added some perks." He looked back at his stuff and shrugged. "It really doesn't matter, I didn't use the stuff anyway and we can always get more."

I looked at him quizzically and he answered my unsaid question. "Jill is loaded. Turns out she can hack the shit out of computer systems. But seeing as the worlds basically coming to an end we don't feel too guilty about it."

I watched him walk over to his mattress and realign it back in place. Then he turned to me. "Now come here… I wanna see what other unknown powers you have hidden in that body."

He cupped my backside and picked me up, kissing my neck. I wrapped my legs around him and allowed him to lead me to the bed. He lay me down gently and started to kiss me again. I honestly didn't think it were possible, but this kiss was more intense and ten times better then before. His hands found the bottom of the towel wrapped around me and started to lift it up. Everything was in slow motion. His cloths came off slowly, and so did my towels.

"Edward." I breathed. "Edward, make love to me."

And he did. With his hands first, feeling every inch of my body in appreciation. Then he kissed me everywhere, I could feel his breath playing over my skin. He came back to me and kissed me so romantically that my heart ached. Then, without warning he entered just where I wanted him. His eyes wouldn't leave mine. I never felt so connected to him then right now. We were one.

"I love you." We said at the same time and smiled.

I kissed him and moaned, and he grunted in ecstasy. He was pumped slowly and I knew that it was killing him too. We never had the chance to get used to sex without being rough with each other after all. But I could tell that he was fully committed to making this as romantic as possible. I closed my eyes and let all of my love for him shine through me. Love and lust combined was the most powerful thing that I could ever feel. I only ever felt it with him.

"Valerie." Edward breathed, and my hormones heightened. I rocked my hips with his adding to the intensity. I put one hand on his stomach and could feel his abs working. I became dizzy with desire.

"Val," He moaned. "Val… damn!"

I could feel my climax coming, and just as I reached it I opened my eyes to look into his. His eyes were bright and he was looking at me in excitement. I reached above my head to grip the mattress but only felt air. I looked to the side and could see our shadows hovering about what looked like four feet off of the bed. Before I could panic or question what the hell was going on Edward kissed me, sending me back to our moment.

He continued as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening and it turned me on even more. I came once, twice, three, four, five times. My orgasm almost splitting my head wide open. Then I felt like I was falling and my heart jumped into my throat. I landed on the bed and Edward landed on top of me, holding himself up. He was still inside of me and he was still hard.

I caught my breath. "W-what the hell just happened?"

"I think… I think your powers…" He said, trying to breath himself. "I think I'm just so damn good that I make you fly."

I laughed, that I could agree with. "I think I'm going to pass out… That was by far the best orgasm ever."

"Just… wait…" He started going again and I stopped him and then rolled him off of me and climbed on top.

I rode him just as horribly slow as he had with me, but I couldn't keep it going too long. I found myself going faster. I looked down at him and saw that he was beaming up at me with so much love on his face. His skin was damp with sweat, and it glistened in the light. He was glowing. He closed his eyes and I felt his body tense up, the grip on my hips tightening. I felt flow after flow of him inside of me and I never felt so complete then I did in this moment with him. His moan was loud and cut through the silence.

I collapsed on his chest and lay there until he cradled me and lay on his side. He smothered me and I welcomed it. His face buried in my neck and his arms were wrapped around my middle. He was still inside of me and I didn't mind it at all, I wanted to sleep like this. With him overwhelming me. I wrapped one leg around his waist and rested my hands on his shoulders.

Before either one of us could say anything we fell into a beautiful slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

I couldn't wrap my head around what had happened last night, but whatever it had been was amazing. I was sitting in the main kitchen at the table beside that lab and staring off into space, sipping my coffee. The cigarette that I had been smoking was burning low in my hand and I took one last drag before I stabbed it out in an ashtray. The same sentence kept running through my head and I couldn't help but smile to myself.

Valerie's here, she's okay and she's finally with me. After a three month long meltdown she was finally here. Sure Leon, Jill, and Claire had been great company and helped me through hard times. But it was nothing compared to knowing that Val was within walking distance.

Jill entered the kitchen wearing a baggy long sleeved shirt and some jean shorts. For the first time I noticed that her hair was longer, reaching a couple of inches pass her shoulders. She swept it out of her eyes and made some coffee for herself, and then joined me at the table.

"Morning." She muttered, still looking beat.

"Morning."

"Edward… I have to ask you about the loud noise I heard last night." She sat her cup down and looked at me with a puzzled expression. "What the hell was that?"

I smiled. "What do you mean?"

"The crash." She cleared her throat. "We heard it all the way in the computer lab."

"Actually, I've been wanting to talk to you about that as well." I sighed, and then continued awkwardly. "Last night, Val and I kissed… and for some reason everything began to lift around us, then when we broke contact it dropped."

Jill narrowed her eyes at me, scrutinizing my face. "Hm."

"And then… we were making love…" I paused and looked at her to see her expression and it didn't change so I continued. "And the same thing happened sort of-"

"What do you mean?"

"Well… we lifted off the bed. In the middle of it."

"Hm." She tapped her fingers on the table, thinking. "Well, whatever she went through in the last three months probably has something to do with her power."

"So you think it's a super human power or something?"

"Yeah. I think that she might have some form of telekinesis. She could move objects with her mind. Its possible that she can control them as well." Jill told me, and I could see that her eyes lit up a little. "I'm guessing she just got out of her sedation yesterday before we saw her, so there hasn't been enough time for her to train her to control them."

"Do you think that she needs training?"

"We would have to do research in order to be able to train her correctly. I'll have to try and hack into whatever computer they were using to see the stats and how much progress they had made on her to pick up from there. But that's all up to Valerie of course." She said, taking a cig out of my pack and lighting it. "You cant make her do anything that she doesn't want to do."

I nodded. "I'll talk to her about it."

"You look enlightened this morning. So I guess the sex was good, eh?" Jill said, winking at me.

I gave her a meaningful look and then changed the subject. "Any luck finding Chris?"

"I think he either knows that we're reaching out and trying to get back to us, or he knows and chose to avoid us altogether." She said. "I don't think that he's in danger."

"How do you know for sure?"

"Because if he was then he'd definitely be reaching us, and I'm sure that the radio that we have is getting to him. I know he's listening. It just pisses me off that he's being this stubborn."

Claire came in with a robe on then and made her some cereal and sat down too. "I think he's just being stubborn, and good morning."

"Morning." Jill and I said in unison.

"I honestly don't even care if we reach him anymore. I don't want to just sit here too much longer, I have to get out and go find him. So I can kill him." Claire continued, her bangs were sticking up at every angle. "There has to be something he's found and is holding back from us because he doesn't want us to just jump in and try to join him. He knows that if he starts talking to us we'll track him somehow… that's exactly where his mind is."

"Claire, you cant just leave on your own." I told her. "Its getting more and more dangerous. The infection will probably surface again, or its there with him. You need a partner."

"Or partners. We can all find him together, and wherever he is that's where a lot more information is bound to be." Jill added.

"But what about you Edward. Your mission is completely different then this one. You have to find your parents don't you?" Claire said with a mouthful of lucky charms.

"I know that they're alive…" I said slowly, looking down at the table and trying to put my theory together without sounding stupid. "I think my father might have something to do with Umbrella… I want to find that out first, and when I know the truth then I will find them."

"Would your father just out and tell you by any chance?"

"I don't think so, seeing as I never really knew what his profession was beside the fact that he 'worked for the government' and constantly disappeared. Its just a hunch but there has to be something there right?" I looked at the others and they didn't answer so I kept on going. "My house was literally a days walking distance from the mansion where it all began. The facility under that house held thousands of researchers and technicians. Scientists. They lived down there for months at a time."

"So, what makes you convinced that your dad was with them?" Jill asked.

"I looked into the records of the hive, and the dates all matched up." I told them. "Major discovery dates, brewing new types of virus's, breakthroughs… And they all match up as far back as I could remember to when my father took work trips. The most mandatory date was marked to do finishing touches on a B.O.W project, and that was on a Christmas that my dad missed."

"So you don't think that there's any way that this is all just a coincidence?" Jill asked, looking doubtful.

"If it had been just one date or even two that matched up I would say that it's a possibility. But he was gone for almost every one. So what do you think?"

Just then Val came into the kitchen, looking drained and pale. She spotted me and made her way over. She was wearing one of my t-shirts and sweatpants, her hair longer then normal and hanging in messy strands wrapping around her body. She was adorable. When she sat next to me she wrapped her left arm around me and put her head on my shoulders.

"Still tired?" I asked.

"Mm-hm. Morning everyone. Sorry I didn't visit much last night." She tucked her hair behind her ears and sipped on my coffee. "I'm sure I have a lot to catch up on."

"Actually, we were just talking about what Edward thinks about his dad having ties with Umbrella." Jill said. "And also… what types of powers you might be able to tap into."

Val looked at me and narrowed her eyes, and I shrugged nonchalantly. When she moved to the cabinets to look for something to eat I gave Jill a look and she snorted into her coffee cup. Leon came in then and looked around at all of us, wide awake. He was already dressed for the day and smiled when he saw all of us in our pjs.

"Come on guys," He said, making his way through the kitchen into the lab. "we have a shit load of stuff to get through today, and if we're going to move out soon we need to get busy."

"Stuff it, sunshine." I said routinely as I did every morning. Leon stuck his middle finger up at me, as always, and made his way into the lab.

"Sheesh, Edward, don't be so mean." Val said, taking her seat beside of me again with a bowl of cereal.

"They do it every morning." Claire said.

"Oh, okay…" She paused and scooped a spoonful into her mouth. "Does anyone want to fill me in on what the plan is?"

"We have to find Chris." Claire said. "We were just talking about finding him and seeing what information he's got a hold of.""Have you talked to him?"

"No, which is why we think that he's holding back info in order to protect us. Whatever he's gotten into he doesn't want us involved.""He's still in Europe?" Val said through a mouthful of cereal, apparently these women didn't care too much for manners. I smiled.

"Yeah." I answered.

"You think he has a lead on what's been going on? Like where the scientists of Umbrella could be?"

"I'm almost certain of it." Jill said, finishing off her cup of coffee. "What could be more dangerous then being in the midst of it all."

"Hm…" Val fell silent and kept eating. "So where do we find him?"

"Europe… somewhere there." Claire shrugged.

I looked at Val and could see that she was in deep thought. I wondered what she was thinking of for a moment but then Jill started to address training for her and getting down to more research and I joined everyone else in cleaning up after ourselves. I waited for Val after they left and then she put her used bowl and spoon away in the washer as well. Then we made our way back to the apartment to get ready.

"What exactly did you say to Jill about my 'new found powers?'" she asked when we were back in my room. She was dressing in a pair of jeans that Jill had left for us at the front door and another one of my tees.

"I just told her about what happened." I shrugged, putting on a pair of jeans myself and doing up the belt. "She had to know the basics to make a diagnosis. I didn't tell her everything. We'll work on controlling it only if you agree to train."

"Edward… Can I ask you something?"

"Anything." I looked at her and her face was serious, sort of grave.

"Since I've been gone who would you say that you've gotten the closest to?" She threw me my black shirt.

"What do you mean?"

"You know," She said seeming to dodge around the question. "Who have you talked to the most? Who would you say your closest friend is out of the three?"

"I wouldn't know really. I cant remember talking to anyone much while you were gone, I was just sort of stuck to the computer. I guess if I could pick one of them it would be Jill, but only because we worked together." I put the shirt on and narrowed my eyes at her. "What are you getting at?"

"Just, if I were gone I would want to know that you were okay with someone."

I walked up to her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders, pulling her close and resting my chin on the top of her head. "Val, I wasn't okay. When you were gone I barely knew who I was. I just know that now I have you back I would die if I lost you again."

I pulled back and she looked up at me, tears making her green eyes shine. "Anything could happen, you have to promise me that you'll find your family."

"I am going to find them, but your going to be with me. Your apart of my family now." I tried to look deeper behind the meaning of what she was saying. "Your planning to leave again."

She didn't say anything, she didn't deny it. Her hands slid up my chest and rested on my shoulders, and still she was silent. She turned from me and walked away, going into the bathroom and then coming back out with some lotion. She went to my cracked mirror and started to put some on her face. My temper getting the best of me, I walked over and took it from her.

"Go ahead." I told her, she looked at me shocked. "Go ahead and leave. But you better be prepared. I will come after you. So you can do whatever you have to do with me, or we can be apart but I'll find you again."

"You have to find your parents Edward. I bet they're still waiting for you. Find them and then come for me." She said, admitting her intentions. "If you promise me you'll find them, then I promise I'll make sure you will know where to find me… Or, we can be apart and you'll never find me."

I stood there, this time the shock was mine. I could tell that she was serious, but I couldn't place where she was going with this. "What kind of agreement is that?"

"It's the best one that I can come up with for now." Val said, taking back her lotion. "There's a lot of things that you don't understand yet. I have to do this."

"Well make me understand," I said, scared of the set look on her face. "Tell me what's going on and I can help you."

"I'll have all the help I need, short of putting anyone that I love in danger." She finished putting the lotion on her face and put it down and turned to look at me. "That means you. If you look at it the way I see, this way we'll have everyone we want and need in the end. I'll be doing my thing while you find them and do yours. Then you find me, and by that time I'll have what I need."

"What do you need?"

She paused and started to chew on her finger nails, then made her way to sit down on the bed. "I think I need to find that out on my own."

"Your not going to give me anything here are you?"

"I'll give you what I can." She smiled lightly, almost looking apologetic. Almost.

I sat next to her on the bed. "What happened to you?"

She looked at me quizzically, her eyebrows furrowed. "What the hell do you mean?"

"I mean, what the _hell _happened to you?"

"What the fuck do you think?" She jumped up, then braced herself above me. "I don't know, you tell me _Edward_. Better yet, why don't you tell me what's happened to you, maybe it would take less time? No no no. Maybe I should go ahead and mine would be shorter, seeing as I don't know what the fuck happened to me! But I know what happened to my brother, and my parents. And that nothing should have happened at all-"

She stopped and clapped her hand over her mouth. I knew that she was referring to the fact that I was to blame for us getting into all of this, but I kept my mouth shut and stood to leave. "I'm going to the lab, you can come whenever you feel like it…"

I started walking down the stairs and I heard her come to the landing. "How many times do I have to push you away to get it to work?"

"Try ten more and then get back to me, I'm not going anywhere." I said, and continued to walk.

She ran down and pressed her back up against the door before I could open it to leave. I let my hand fall to my side and waited.

"I think we rushed into this." She said, looking at me dead in the eyes and my heart dropped. "This thing we have going, I think we went too fast."

I placed my hands on either side of her on the door, trapping her, and leaned in. "Do you regret it?"

"Maybe."

I pulled away and stood back, crossing my arms. The anxiety that I had felt for the past three months was coming back again and I tried to breath. Waiting…

"I know that what ever the hell is going on wont be going on for long and when we've got all of this out of the way we'll pick up again. This isn't good for us right now. You shouldn't feel any obligation to protect me, or be with me constantly. And I shouldn't feel any obligation for the same reasons."

"We've always been together, even when we weren't-"

"Edward, I'm breaking up with you." Only then did she look away, her eyes trained on my feet. "I love you, I'll always love you. But I don't think that we should be together anymore."

I stood there frozen, waiting for her to look at me and take it back. But she never did, she lay her head back on the door and closed her eyes as if she were exhausted.

"Your kidding." I said in denial, with more confidence then I felt was necessary. "Valerie, you know we belong together. I belong with you."

"That might be the case in the future, but for now I don't want to belong to anyone." She said, finally opening her eyes and looking into mine again. There was a shadow of pain there, but it disappeared as soon as I recognized it. "I don't want you anymore."

"Val-"

"I'm going down to talk to Jill…" She said, turning and reaching for the knob herself. "There's really nothing left to say here. We'll talk later."

"Valerie!"

But she left, she just left me there to stare at the door she quickly closed behind her. I took a few breaths and then jerked it open, half running to catch up. She was just about to leave the entrance door to the apartments when I saw her and yelled for her to stop, she did and slowly turned to face me.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked her, walking until I was directly in front of her. "Just give me a reason and we'll let this happen, that's all I want.""Because I'm just not good for you right now." She said, I could tell she was starting to get angry again. "Is that a good enough reason?"

"That's not true."

"No, not in your eyes, but as long as I'm with you I'll feel guilty." She backed up closer to the door. "Don't you want to be with me and both of us be happy about it?"

"Of course I do."

"Then that wont happen until I get other things out of the way, okay? It's not like I'm breaking up with you forever. And we'll be together until I leave."

"When are you leaving?"

"When I'm ready."

I closed my eyes and tried to be patient with this. I tried to take a breath and understand that whatever she wasn't telling me now I would know eventually. Then I accepted that this is how it was going to be. "If I promise you right now that I'll agree to this there are conditions."

Val sighed. "Name it."

"If I'm not coming, someone has to."

"I already thought of this."

"And?"

"And I'm going to propose to finding Chris with Claire, when she leaves I will."

"Leon should go with you both." "That's his choice."

"Okay…" I took another breath as anxiety stabbed at my chest and continued. "If I promise to let you go and find my mom and dad, you have to promise me something."

"What's that?"

I walked closer to her and lifted her chin up with my hand, then locked her lips with mine. I kissed her as passionately as I could without my heart breaking again. "Promise me that you wont forget that."

Val looked up at me, her eyes out of focus. "I wont."

"And promise that when I find my parents you'll allow me to find you again."

"Okay."

"And promise that when I find you, no matter if all of this is over or not, you'll be with me again."

She hesitated for a few seconds, and then nodded. "Alright, but that comes with just one condition."

"Okay."

"If we do get back together, you have to trust me when I say I can take care of myself." She raised an eyebrow. "That means not being overly protective, or possessive, or all of that bullshit. And if something happens, then it happens."

I rolled my eyes, "Fine."

"Edward?"

I held out my hand and she shook it. "I promise."

I followed her out and tried to be cheerful to let her know that this wasn't such a bad situation. But I knew my gut better then anything else and I could tell that this was a bad idea. I just couldn't decide whether or not it was because I hated this, or because it was a for warning. I decided to go with the first just for comfort.

"So, about last night," I began keeping the air light. "The sex was pretty good eh?" She laughed. "Shut up!"

"Come on, you know it was awesome."

"We're not supposed to talk about that stuff anymore," She said, I couldn't see her facial expression so I went by the sound of her voice. There was a hint of laughter there.

"So, as long as we aren't dating we aren't aloud to talk about that stuff?"

"No."

I walked closer behind her and leaned to whisper in her ear. "What about do it?"

I heard her gasp and then she turned to look at me. "No, we cant do it."

I put on a sad face, pouting my lower lip out. She rolled her eyes and kept walking, but I knew as soon as she turned around she smiled. We walked all the way back to the kitchen and then through it to the lab. Everyone was already there at their normal computers, silent and working. Val moved away to talk to Jill and in honor of our new agreement I walked to my computer and turned it on.


End file.
